Filmed over the course of thirty days at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Frederick Wiseman’s searing documentary is one of the greatest directorial debuts in the history of cinema, and also one of the most controversial.

Titicut Follies

Frederick Wiseman

This event is free. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the venue two hours prior to the event start time. One ticket per person.

Filmed over the course of thirty days at
the State Prison for the Criminally Insane
at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Frederick
Wiseman's searing documentary Titicut
Follies is one of the greatest directorial debuts
in the history of cinema, and also one of the
most controversial. Banned by the state of
Massachusetts before its initial release (the
authorities claimed it violated the privacy
and rights of the inmates depicted), the film
was cleared for exhibition by a Superior Court
decision in 1969, but only to audiences working
in relevant fields such as law, medicine,
and social work. Finally, in 1991 the Supreme
Court ruled that the film could be shown to
general audiences — but even then, it was
stipulated that it must carry a disclaimer.
Now this landmark film returns to the screen
in a newly restored 35mm print from the
Library of Congress.

Named after the institution's musical talent
show, Titicut Follies depicts the daily lives
of the inmates/patients as they are ignored,
taunted, mocked, force-fed, and stripped bare
(literally and figuratively) by the guards, doctors,
and social workers who are supposed to
provide for their care, and who seem equally
in need of treatment as those in their charge.
Often misidentified as cinema verité or direct
cinema due to Wiseman's ostensible refusal to
comment on the images he presents, Titicut
Follies is, rather, a filmed reality orchestrated
with clinical precision — a reality that bears
witness to some of the most frightful extremes
of the human condition and captures the utter
failure of the institutions charged with mitigating
those extremes. Few works of art are
more painful to experience than this film, and
fewer still are as essential.

The Festival is also proud to be presenting
two related works: the world premiere of
Titicut Follies - The Ballet, choreographed by
James Sewell of Sewell Ballet, as part of our
Festival Street programming, in addition to
Wiseman's newest film, In Jackson Heights.

Preserved by the Library of Congress National Audio
Visual Conservation Center.